A History of Assam c18: Chapter XII. Manipur
A History of Assam c18
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Chapter XII. Manipur
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The State of Manipur, consisting, as it does, of a small but most fertile valley, isolated from the neighbouring kingdoms by an encircling zone of mountainous country inhabited by wild and warlike tribes, has long had an independent existence. It was known to the Shāns as Ka-sé and to the Burmese as Ka-thé, a corruption of the same word; the Ahoms called it Mekheli, and the Kachāris Magli, while the old Assamese name for it is Moglau. The Manipuris proper were regarded by Pemberton as "the descendants of a Tartar colony which emigrated from the north-west borders of China during the sanguinary conflicts for supremacy which took place between the different members of the Chinese and Tartar dynasties in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries." Their features clearly show that they belong to the Mongolian stock, and their language is closely allied to those of the Kuki tribes which border them on the south. They have records which purport to carry back their history to the thirtieth year of the Christian era. Between that date and 1714, however, only forty-seven kings are enumerated. This would give to each king a reign of nearly 36 years. Moreover, in the whole period, only one important event is mentioned, *viz.*, the conquest of Khumbat in 1475 A.D., by the united forces of Pong and Manipur, which was followed by the annexation of the Kubo valley to the latter country. It is clear that the account of this period is merely legendary. It must have been compiled at a comparatively recent time by the State chroniclers on no better basis than their own imagination and the fugitive memory of an illiterate people.
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But from 1714 onwards the narrative is fairly continuous, and many of the events detailed in it are proved to have occurred by the independent records maintained by the kings of Ava. The year in question was marked by the accession of Pamheiba, who is reputed to have been a Nāga chief, and who subsequently became a convert to Hinduism, taking the name Gharib Nawāz or “patron of the poor.” His people followed his example; and they are now conspicuous for the rigidity with which they observe the rules of caste and of ceremonial purity. They call themselves Kshatriyas, and are supported in their claim by the degraded Brāhmans who serve them, and who, after giving the State its present name and identifying it with the Manipur of the *Mahābhārat*,* have invented a legend that the people are descended from the hero Arjun by a Nāga woman, with whom he cohabited during his alleged sojourn in this neighbourhood.
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But, whatever his ancestry, Gharib Nawāz proved himself an exceedingly able king and a most successful leader; and, under his energetic guidance, the Manipuris emerged from the obscurity in which they had lain for centuries. Between the years 1725 and 1749 he waged a series of successful wars against the Burmese, and captured many important towns. He might even have taken Ava itself, but for the fall of his standard in a gale, which so alarmed his superstitious mind that he hastily patched up a peace and retreated. His son, Ugat Shah, *alias* Kakilal Thaba, took advantage of the fiasco to sow discontent amongst his followers. Gharib Nawāz was compelled to go into exile, and was soon afterwards murdered at his son's instigation. This was the beginning of a series of what Mackenzie justly describes as internal wars “of the most savage and revolting type, in which sons murdered fathers, and brothers murdered brothers, without a single trait of heroism to relieve the dark scene of blood and treachery.”
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∗ The Manipur mentioned in the *Mahābhārat* was the capital of Babhruvahana, king of Kalinga. It must therefore have been situated somewhere in the south of Orissa or north of Madras. Various sites in that tract have been suggested by Lassen, Oppert and others. Its exact position is still uncertain, but there can be no doubt whatever that it was nowhere near the place of the same name in Assam. It has already been mentioned that the people of Java have also adapted the *Mahābhārat* to their own history and assigned local sites for the principal scenes. In the same way the Chutiya kingdom of Upper Assam was called Vidarbha. Cambodia gets its name from a place in Upper India.
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The inevitable result supervened, and the power of Manipur, which Gharib Nawāz had raised so high, speedily collapsed. In 1755, and again in 1758, the country was overrun by the Burmese, and part of it was permanently annexed by them. In 1762, a treaty was negotiated by Jai Singh, the Manipuri king, with the British Government, whereby the latter undertook to assist in the recovery of the lost provinces; and in January 1763 a contingent of British troops, under Mr. Verelst, left Chittagong. They reached Khāspur, near Badarpur, in April, but suffered so much from the continuous rain and from disease that they fell back to Jaynagar, on the left bank of the Barāk, whence they were eventually recalled to Bengal. Later on, a letter was received from Jai Singh stating that he had no money, as all had been carried off by the Burmese, but offering to defray in the produce of the country* the expenses of any British troops that might be employed in his service. For some reason, not now apparent, the British seem, at this stage, to have broken off the negotiations.
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First Burmese invasions.
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A fresh invasion by the Burmese took place in 1765; and Jai Singh, who, in the interval, had lost and regained the throne, was defeated and forced to flee to Cachar. He returned as soon as the invaders left. He displaced with ease the man whom the Burmese had raised to the throne, but they promptly came back and defeated him near Lāngthābāl. He again became a fugitive, but, having obtained help from the Ahom king, Rājesvar Singh, as already narrated, by 1768 he was once more seated on the throne.
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Jai Singh's struggles with the Burmese.
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His troubles were not yet over. During the next fourteen years he was driven no less than four times into exile, but at last he seems to have made his peace with the Burmese; and from 1782 till the end of his reign, he was left in undisturbed possession of his devastated country. It quickly recovered from the troubles which it had undergone and, in 1792, we find Jai Singh marching to the aid of the Ahom king Gaurināth with five hundred horse and four thousand foot. This expedition, as shown in Chapter VIII, was by no means a success.
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∗ In this letter we find the following list of prices:—silk, Rs. 5 per seer; iron, Rs. 5 per maund; cotton and wood oil, Re. 1-8-0 per maund; wax, thread and elephants' tusks, Rs. 20 per maund; camphor, Rs. 80 per maund; Manipuri cloths, Re. 1-8-0 each, and Manipuri "gold rupees," Rs. 12 each.
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In 1799 Jai Singh died, in the course of a pilgrimage, at Bhagwāngola, on the bank of the Padma, after a long and chequered reign of nearly forty years. His eldest son, Harsha Chandra, succeeded him, but was murdered, after a reign of two years, by the brother of one of his father's wives. Jai Singh's second son, Madhu Chandra, who followed him, shared the same fate five years later. A third son, Chaurjit Singh, ascended the vacant throne, and the fourth, Marjit Singh, thereupon engaged in a series of abortive conspiracies. He at last induced the king of Ava to espouse his cause, and was installed by him as Raja in 1812. He put to death most of his brother's adherents and all likely candidates to the throne. In 1818, he invaded Cachar with a large force. It is said that he would have conquered that country with ease, had not the Raja, Gobind Chandra, after soliciting in vain the intervention of the British Government, invoked the aid of Chaurjit Singh, who was at that time living in Jaintia. The latter at once came to his assistance.
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Marjit, afraid of his brother's influence with his soldiers, promptly retreated to Manipur, while Chaurjit Singh established himself in the south of Cachar, which Gobind Chandra is said to have promised him as a reward for his services. In the following year, Marjit himself got into trouble with the Burmese, who again invaded his unhappy country and drove him to Cachar. He now became reconciled to his brother Chaurjit, and helped him to turn out Govind Chandra, who fled to British territory. In 1823 their nephew Pitambar Singh led a force into Manipur and, dispossessing a man named Shubol who had been installed by the Burmese, proclaimed himself king. Chaurjit's brother, Gambhir Singh, thereupon marched against him with a small force and defeated him. He fled to Ava, but the country was by this time so utterly exhausted that Gambhir Singh was unable to maintain his troops there and was obliged to return to Cachar. A quarrel between him and Chaurjit caused the latter to retire to Sylhet, where he tendered his interest in Cachar to the East India Company. Meanwhile Gambhir Singh possessed himself of the whole of south Cachar, except Hailakandi which was held by Marjit.
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At this stage, the Burmese, who had returned to Manipur and were also in possession of the Brahmaputra valley, threatened to annex Cachar. This was prevented by the British, as will be narrated in Chapter XIV. Gobind Chandra was restored by the British to the throne of Cachar, and Gambhir Singh was helped to recover possession of Manipur and also of the Kubo valley. His position as Raja was confirmed by the treaty of Yandabo, which was executed between the British and the Burmese in 1826.
Linked texts (1)
- Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit